"Hi. Yes, the number is 6028 and the box says 3850. There are no numbers etched on the arc or on the box. It appears that a label may have been removed from the inner lid, but it is no longer with the set. Thanks for your interest."

From the photos, I can't see any USNO number etched on the arc. I'll ask the seller if there is one.

Interesting that the serial number is in its own little polished "bubble". I would take that, along with the high serial number, and no USNO number to mean that this unit is a later manufactured instrument compared to most of the sextants we've seen, and probably was never in the Navy inventory.

Andrew

Andrew, do you mean Brandis 6028? I can't tell whether the 3850 is from Brandis or N.O. Offhand, it sounds like two Brandis numbers to me, with no N.O. intervention in the case.[/size]

Has anyone been able to search through this collection; http://rs5.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2013/ms013013.pdfThough born in a foreign land, he immigrated to the U.S. and started a navigational school in California. I believe it was he who was shown the box found on Gardner and was asked for his opinion concerning it. Mr Gatty may have been familiar with Brandis boxes, and the sextants within, having resided in the U.S. for some time before that event. It would be interesting to see if there is any reference to the Gardner box in his papers. I wish I were closer to the collection.Box 22 has some photographs , but I suppose the chance that the Gardner box would be included in one would be small.

there are some new photos of the USNO number on the arc, and the calibration stickers from 1935 and 1937. The numbers on the stickers and the instrument of course do not match, so bear with me.

The sextant Serial unknownUSNO # 1142

The Box5756 stenciled (Brandis)

The calibration stickerUSNO 1114Brandis 5756

So, the box matches the sticker and originally held Brandis 5756, USNO 1114

Instrument in the box is Brandis ?, USNO 1142.

I've asked the seller to please eyeball the instrument again for the serial number at the end of the arc or elsewhere.

Andrew

Seller of this sextant sent me the following:

<<<<<<<<Great news! Not having ever held one of these before, I was holding it upside down, so there were no numbers on the "left" end. Having righted the world, and removing a bit of smutz, I find 5981 in tiny numbers in the silver band. Thank you for sticking with me on this!

Kimberly>>>>>>>>>>>>

So this instrument is Brandis 5981Navy 1142

in Box originally forBrandis 5756Navy 1114

It is interesting that these relatively high Brandis numbers have relatively low Navy numbers. Sure would love to find the USNO calibration archives....

Harold Gatty has many different connections with the Earhart saga. I had no idea that his papers even existed, much less that they are in the Library of Congress in Washington. Gatty was an Australian, and a a famous navigator on several early long-distance flights. He was a proselytizer for the use of celestial navigation in aviation. Along with Weems, he worked on several inventions to make it more practical. He was hired by Pan Am, circa 1935, to organize their air service in the South Pacific. I don't know exactly how and when he first went to Fiji, but he was consulted on the sextant box when it turned up. Gatty certainly lived in Fiji after World War II, where, among other activities, he started an airline. He died in 1957.

Greetings from Warsaw, Poland ! Have just joined so apologies in advance if this post is in the wrong place.

Have been fascinated by the Niku hypothesis for a while now and having had some time on my hands over the weekend decided to take a look at the whole sextant piece. Maybe our search filters work a little better over here or maybe being mildly autistic helps but I may have found an additional 13 sextants online, 11 with USNO numbers and 8 with both USNO and Makers Number.

Have prepared a detailed Table using the same headings as the Ameliapedia Sextant Table and have tried very hard to find a way to attach a screenshot with details or a file but can't seem to figure that out. Table has links to the relevant websites. Anyone able to help me out with how to share this ?

Haven't tried to analyse these, will leave that to others far more qualified.

Anyway, hope useful. Will post full details including links as soon as someone lets me know how. That being said I'm just leaving for the airport for a flight to Moscow but have tomorrow morning free so would try to do then.

I've done a temporary sextants table so that Andrew and others can see the new items that you proposed to add to the big table.

With any luck, I've also attached the spreadsheet that Paul emailed me, with coloring and comments. I've made some corrections in inspection dates and made decisions about various numbers.

The last entry, Brandis 5996/6006 is most interesting. I think it is an aviation quadrant, with an electric light (see the wires and the on/off switch on the handle. I suspect that the inspection certificate was for 5996 and that 6006 got placed in the wrong box. The mysterious "Weems 805W" on the inspection certificate is tantalizing.

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